Clague wins ground-breaking regeneration

Architect, Clague, based in Canterbury, has won a bid in competition with three other architectural practices to design an innovative visitor pavilion for Kent County Council. The pavilion is the centre-piece of the new A2 Activity Park, a 13 ha facility located adjacent to the A2 trunk road on the southern side of Gravesend and Northfleet. The land became available following the realignment of the road and the park is set to become a venue for professional cycling and outdoor activities with landscaped public access.

Clague’s winning design for the pavilion will meet BREEAM ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ standards. It is expected to include renewable energy generation facilities on site to meet 10% of its electricity requirements.

The Activity Park provides a valuable facility both for the Gravesham borough and the wider community in Kent and the South-East. From the visitor pavilion an avenue leads to a garden and play area and a pedestrian bridge leads to a central activity space, cycle race track and BMX and skate park. The park facility also includes grassed open space, an orchard with sculpture, a meadow, mountain bike trails and cycle tracks.

The park design will be implemented by Jacobs UK engineers. The structural and sustainability consultants are Faber Maunsell. A detailed planning proposal is due to be submitted by end April and the project is expected to be complete for 2012.